Pope on first state visit to Britain since 1534

Pope Benedict XVI landed at Edinburgh airport yesterday at the start of the first state visit by a Pope to Britain since King Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church in Rome in 1534 and founded the Church of England.

The Pope urged Britain to maintain its respect for religious traditions and warned against “aggressive forms of secularism” in his first speech of the historic state visit.

“Today, the United Kingdom strives to be a modern and multicultural society,” the Pope said at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, where he flew in earlier at the start of his four-day trip to Scotland and England.

“In this challenging enterprise, may it always maintain its respect for those traditional values and cultural expressions that more aggressive forms of secularism no longer value or even tolerate. Let it not obscure the Christian foundation that underpins its freedoms.”

Welcoming the Pope to Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth II said she hoped the visit would deepen ties between the Catholic and Anglican churches, and thanked the Vatican for its role in ending sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

“Your presence here today reminds us of our common Christian heritage,” the Queen said in a speech.

“I am pleased that your visit will provide an opportunity to deepen the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Established Church of England and the Church of Scotland,” she said.

Meanwhile later yesterday Pope Benedict XVI warned young Catholics about the “temptations” of drugs, money, sex, pornography and alcohol in a homily at the first open-air Mass of his state visit to Britain.

“There are many temptations placed before you every day – drugs, money, sex, pornography, alcohol – which the world tells you will bring you happiness, yet these things are destructive and divisive,” the Pope said.

He told the estimated crowd of 65,000 in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park there was “only one thing which lasts” – “the love of Jesus Christ personally for each one of you”.

During his four-day visit, Pope Benedict will also travel to London and the central English city of Birmingham, where he will preside on Sunday over the beatification Mass of a 19th century cardinal, John Henry Newman.

After meeting the Queen, and wrapped in a green and blue tartan shawl, Pope Benedict was driven through the streets of Edinburgh in his popemobile, greeted by 125,000 people according to police, many waving Scottish and Vatican flags.

The Pope later travelled by road to Glasgow where he held hold an outdoor Mass in a public park after a performance by Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle.

In Glasgow, people waved flags from several countries and held up football-style scarves, although some said they thought the controversies surrounding the visit had reduced the numbers of people attending.